ebullient
/ɪˈbʊljənt/
adjective
Origin
Latin
ebullire — to bubble up
Overview
Meaning Now
- Overflowing with enthusiasm, excitement, or high spirits.
- Boiling or agitated, as if in a liquid.
Literal older meaning
bubbling over
Language path
Latin → English
Earliest form
ebullient
Earliest period
16th century
Journey
The word stems from the Latin 'ebullire', which described the physical action of liquids boiling. By the late 16th century, English speakers began using it to describe people whose emotions seemed to 'bubble over' just as a pot might boil over, leading to its modern association with intense, irrepressible cheerfulness.
Evolution
- Latin
ebullire
“to bubble out or boil over”
Formed from 'ex-' (out) + 'bullire' (to bubble).
- Middle French
ebullient
“boiling”
Direct loan from Latin participle.
- Early Modern English
ebullient
“boiling or agitated”
First used in English with a literal, physical sense of boiling.
- Modern English
ebullient
“overflowing with excitement”
The literal boiling sense has become archaic, with the figurative sense of high spirits becoming dominant.
Connections
Word parts
e-
prefix
out
bull
root
bubble
-ient
suffix
tending to
Related across languages
French
ébullition
boiling
Italian
ebollizione
boiling
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Related to ebullient
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.